{"id":4464,"date":"2012-10-11T16:06:51","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T16:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.org\/wordpress\/?p=4464"},"modified":"2012-10-11T16:06:51","modified_gmt":"2012-10-11T16:06:51","slug":"building-rapport-and-confidence-with-students-in-elt-classes-a-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2012\/10\/11\/building-rapport-and-confidence-with-students-in-elt-classes-a-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Building rapport and confidence with students in ELT classes &#8211; A Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This summary was contributed by\u00a0Tim Crangle on his blog\u00a0and is reproduced here with his kind permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>INTRODUCTION<\/h2>\n<p>This evening\u2019s chat was about building rapport and confidence with students in ELT classes. It was quite a lively chat with a number of threads going on. If my calculations are right, there were 283 tweets over the hour from 21 contributors. @marisa_c and @hartle were the most prolific, with 48 and 49 tweets respectively (full list of contributors at the end of the summary).<\/p>\n<h2>DEFINITIONS<\/h2>\n<p>Firstly, it was a \u201cdouble-barrelled\u201d discussion theme which mentioned both\u00a0<strong><em>rapport<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and<strong><em>confidence<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRapport\u201d was defined as :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Interpersonal ability<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Empathy\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Building empathy with students. Relating well with them, being \u201cin sync\u201d and on the same wavelength<\/li>\n<li><strong>Team building<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Building a community, team spirit, creating group dynamics<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acrostic Poem<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 R for Respect, A for Affinity\/Affective, P for Person\/ Personalisation, P for Passion\/Patience, O for Openness, R for Recognition, T for Teacher (I shamefully admit I didn\u2019t know what an acrostic poem was before tonight!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>DIFFERENCE RAPPORT\/CONFIDENCE<\/h2>\n<p>What is the difference between rapport and confidence? They are very different notions but are interconnected. Summarizing a number of contributors, the general idea was that rapport can be built early on in the relationship with students and that confidence can only be built in the positive atmosphere that rapport can create. Confidence takes longer to build than rapport and it relates to perceived progress\/learning.<\/p>\n<h2>HOW CAN WE BUILD RAPPORT AND HOW CAN WE BUILD CONFIDENCE?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><strong>BUILDING RAPPORT<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><strong>BUILDING CONFIDENCE<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Keep things fresh with novelty, variation, elements of change<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Level the playing field \u2013 focus on achievements from weaker students to balance those of higher performers. Let weaker students have key to exercise.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Learn, remember and use names. Remember things and cross refer student contributions<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Get students to experience ownership of their learning and gain pride in achievements<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Listen and respond to others \u2013 try to go beyond \u201csurface errors\u201d<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Use English outside the classroom<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Teacher must show and \u201cecho\u201d passion\/enthusiasm and model behavior \u2013 projecting the kind of attitude they to want get back.<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Make students aware of things they do well \u2013 especially things they couldn\u2019t do before. Focus explicitly on the learning process in order to make students aware of what they have learned.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Lower anxiety created by fear of negative correction, fear of making mistakes, being judged<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Get students to bring own materials, post\/write questions during presentations for later discussion. Ask them to lead feedback.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Get students close to each other, make them collectively responsible. Do activities which have the students gradually open up to the class.<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Give students the chance to prepare or just think before speaking. Praise genuinely and correct sensitively.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Teacher should also be prepared to \u201copen up\u201d a bit with chitchat at beginning of lesson. Give students a few \u201ctidbits\u201d without revealing whole life story<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">If you ask questions without one clear answer, the student will unlikely be wrong.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Work \u201cextramurally\u201d, blogging, socializing, using email as an individual \u201clow pressure\u201d medium<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Grabbing students for a quick walk and talk can work wonders!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Show imperfection \u2013 Make mistakes and not know answers<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Do work that teacher\u2019s want and need to do. Give language students need.<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\">Teachers must be \u201cenergetic antenna\u201d \u2013 holding and conducting the energy of the group<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"307\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>OTHER POINTS AND ISSUES RAISED<\/h2>\n<p>A number of issues\/points were raised:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Student vs Student as Client debate briefly flared up \u2013there is enough material in that debate for at least another hour\u2019s chat.<\/li>\n<li>Can you be a good teacher without creating rapport?<\/li>\n<li>Is it possible or even desirable to build rapport with every student<\/li>\n<li>Can teachers build student to student rapport?<\/li>\n<li>We all have an example of a \u201csevere\u201d teacher who taught us all a lot. In that case, is creating rapport really vital? Could one argue that being \u201csevere\u201d is a kind of rapport?<\/li>\n<li>Creating rapport is difficult with extra large groups (90+). Also difficult with short summer school courses.<\/li>\n<li>One \u201cbad apple\u201d in a group can make things difficult<\/li>\n<li>Are \u00ab\u00a0weaker students\u00a0\u00bb those that are quieter or unable to speak?<\/li>\n<li>Too much rapport building with younger learners can get you into trouble<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>IDEAS \u2013 How do you focus your first class with each group to be able to build rapport to maximum effect?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Plan activities which allow students to gradually open up.<\/li>\n<li>Introduce the course, the work to do<\/li>\n<li>Start the lessons on first day and let people get to know each other through the subject.<\/li>\n<li>Names practice and usage<\/li>\n<li>Group management \u2013 getting people to connect with their classmates<\/li>\n<li>First impressions very important to create rapport<\/li>\n<li>Take part in student activities<\/li>\n<li>Start off with a \u2018bang\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Adapt classroom layout<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>LINKS AND RECOMMENDED BOOKS<\/h2>\n<p>@esoldaveglasgow recommended Alan McLean\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/The-Motivated-School-Alan-McLean\/dp\/0761943854\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341510637&amp;sr=8-1\">\u00ab\u00a0Motivated School\u00a0\u00bb<\/a>\u00a0and \u00a0\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Motivating-Every-Learner-Alan-McLean\/dp\/1848601824\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341510713&amp;sr=8-1\">Motivating Every Learner<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>@marisa_c recommended J Hadfield\u2019s book \u00ab\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Classroom-Dynamics-Jill-Hadfield\/dp\/B00134IH9S\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341511018&amp;sr=8-1\">Classroom Dynamics<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>@hartle posted this link\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/kzTege3f\">http:\/\/t.co\/kzTege3f<\/a>\u00a0to her standard noticeboard at beginning of course<\/p>\n<p>@sandymillin posted these links to edmodo\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/3qZeCXAL\">http:\/\/t.co\/3qZeCXAL<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/G03mPoB0\">http:\/\/t.co\/G03mPoB0<\/a>which has \u201chas really helped improve rapport with (students) \u2013 continues things outside class\u201d<\/p>\n<p>@fionamau shared links to her blog posts about confidence : A Matter of Confidence part 1<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/4y2Fvxxx\">http:\/\/t.co\/4y2Fvxxx<\/a>\u00a0part 2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/jlRRvS53\">http:\/\/t.co\/jlRRvS53<\/a>\u00a0and part 3\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/6ZI4wao6\">http:\/\/t.co\/6ZI4wao6<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>CONCLUSION<\/h2>\n<p>Good teaching, rapport &amp; confidence building are closely linked \u2013 they must coexist. There are limitations to rapport building with certain types of learners, group sizes and course formats.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure I will have forgotten some important points which were made in the chat \u2013 please forgive me if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n<h2>LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS (alphabetical):<\/h2>\n<p>@andyscott55, @chiasuan, @designerlessons, @DinaDobrou, @elawassell, @ELTExperiences, @esoldaveglasgow, @fionamau, @globalacademy, @hartle, @ljp2010, @Marisa_C, @nick_adams84, @PlanELT, @rschurter, @sandymillin, @Sharonzspace, @stangea, @theteacherjames, @tim_crangle, @YmnPearl<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This summary was contributed by\u00a0Tim Crangle on his blog\u00a0and is reproduced here with his kind permission. INTRODUCTION This evening\u2019s chat was about building rapport and confidence with students in ELT classes. It was quite a lively chat with a number of threads going on. If my calculations are right, there were 283 tweets over the&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2012\/10\/11\/building-rapport-and-confidence-with-students-in-elt-classes-a-summary\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}